A somewhat-regular sharing of the dialogue that God and I are having through Scripture, as pastor of Palmdale UMC (http://www.pumchurch.com/).

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Catalyst

"Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun & Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled..."

(Matthew 4:12-14)

In Matthew's gospel, the first sighting we get of Jesus as an adult is when he travels south to the Judean wilderness to be baptized by John in the Jordan River (Mt. 3:13-17). Immediately afterwards, he is "led by the Spirit" into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (Mt. 4:1-11). The very next verse says Jesus, upon hearing about John's arrest, "withdrew to Galilee" (4:12). That must have been a disturbing piece of news. John the Baptist, one of the leading spiritual voices at that time... who had just baptized Jesus (and been prophesying about Jesus' upcoming ministry), was being "silenced" by King Herod. Maybe Jesus would be targeted next?!?

Galilee was far north of the Judean wilderness. So at first, it may seem like Jesus is "getting out of Dodge" rather quickly. It would be much safer in Galilee (plus, it was where he was from!). But Jesus doesn't hunker down in his hometown of Nazareth and "lay low." No. He moves from the safe confines of Nazareth to the much larger seaport city of Capernaum. It's there that he begins his ministry by calling his first disciples.

What struck me as interesting today was the reason WHY he started his ministry. Sure, it was probably God's timing... but it also seemed to be necessitated by the unfortunate arrest of John. This tells me that sometimes "negative events" can be the catalyst for new opportunities & ministries. It's kind of like what's happening at my church in Aiea right now. The leadership has been facing a potentially debilitating budget deficit. But through much prayer, hard work, and being open to the leading of the Spirit, we're now on track for a balanced budget in 2015, AND a new (renewed!??) vision for ministry this year! I'm so excited about where God is leading. And had we NOT had this potential financial crisis, we may not have moved out of our regular routine.

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SCRIPTURE JOURNALING

Some of the best "divine inspiration" can come when we read the Bible on a regular basis. A few years ago I discovered the gift of reading the Bible devotionally - reading not to "get through" a particular book or passage, but rather to listen for a word from God. I've come to call this scripture journaling.

The process is simple, and I like using the SOAP acronym:S - SCRIPTURE... record one verse (or portion of a verse) that God used to speak to you during your reading...

O - OBSERVATION... Make an observation about what this scripture seems to be saying about God, us, life, etc.

A - APPLICATION... How does this apply to your life personally? What insight does this give you? How will you be different today because of what you've just read?

P - PRAYER... Write a short prayer as a response to God for what has just been revealed to you through scripture.

It's as simple as that! You can find the reading plan that we use at Palmdale UMC on our website (http://pumchurch.com/im-new/scripture-journaling)... but you can do this with any reading plan. The main point is finding time to spend with God through the life-giving power of the Bible! My daily blog entries come directly from my own scripture journaling. I hope it may encourage you to start this life-changing practice!

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About Me

I'm the pastor of Palmdale United Methodist Church in the Antelope Valley of California. I began serving this congregation in July 2015. I graduated from Waiakea High School on the Big Island of Hawaii in 1986... received my undergraduate degree in Theatre from the University of Hawaii ('90)... and my MDiv from Drew Theological School ('94). I've served 3 UMC congregations in Hawaii before coming to California.
You can listen to and read my sermons on our church website (www.pumchurch.com) - click on sermons...